


In The Limelight

by TheDissappearingAct



Category: Incredibles 2 - Fandom, The Incredibles (2004)
Genre: Gen, Incredibles 2, Light Angst, Movie: Incredibles 2 (2018), Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-06-29
Packaged: 2019-05-30 03:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15087674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDissappearingAct/pseuds/TheDissappearingAct
Summary: Elastigirl signed up to be a super, not a celebrity.





	In The Limelight

Elastigirl was 16 when she first started her superhero career. When she looks back at it she’s amazed by how naive she used to be. It wasn’t uncommon for superheroes to start at that age but that was still when superheroing wasn’t seen as a glamorous profession. 

When Helen turned 18 there was a shift in crime. Technology had progressed in the wrong hands so violence was more common and crimes were more spectacular. The government decided to use these average citizens with special abilities to their benefit. She felt like she’d become a celebrity overnight. She was invited to be on talk shows and do press conferences. Everywhere she went in her Elastigirl suit, she was expected to sign autographs, to stretch her arm and wave. A younger Helen couldn’t have even imagined such fame.

In her first year as an adult, Helen Truax and Elastigirl were two different people. She didn’t mind it being that way. It let her keep the intimate parts of her life away from the limelight and yet still be an influence on the world around her. Elastigirl was looked up to by every female child, teenager, and adult. Helen was known for being late. Elastigirl was a bad bitch who fought crime in the streets. Helen was majoring in architecture and played tennis in her spare time (superheroing didn’t necessarily provide an appropriate income yet and she liked to be prepared). There were parts of her identity that no one else knew and it felt right to Helen that way. 

As he stardom grew, Helen and Elastigirl started to merge in identity. Elastigirl was unlike any other superhero, she was an idol. Helen started to receive offers to model for magazine spreads and endorse clothes (with her mask of course). She had never thought she was painful to look atbut the way journalists talked about her made her seem like a supermodel. Like the woman of every man’s dreams. But easily the most overwhelming aspect was the tabloids. Elastigirl was a never ending buffet for gossip. Helen never really figured out why. It may have been because she was young and unmarried and always in the press. Or it may have been because she was one of the few female supers that had made it on top with the big burly men. 

Either way, it was mentally exhausting… and she hadn’t even started dating yet. . Given the fact that she was constantly surrounded by supers, it was inevitable that she would eventually start dating them. And when she did, the media devoured it. Every newspaper and magazine she opened had her face on it. She hadn’t minded being written about when it was just her work but when her personal life came into it, things became messy. 

She dated a lot of guys, it was true. But it was only because they all seemed to restrict her. They would come in with their promises of everything staying the same but as soon as they would start dating, for some reason or other, Helen wouldn’t be able to work anymore. She had her suspicions that they secretly feared her power. She was Elasti **girl**. The other supers feared being outshined, especially by a girl. Every time she broke up with someone, speculation arose with rumours surrounding only her personality. “She was spoiled”, “she was cheating”, “she didn’t deserve him”. So Elastigirl stopped dating. When it came to heroing versus love, heroing was definitely more important. Heroing allowed independence; it was stable. That was before Bob. 


End file.
